The filming of Downton 2, A New Era at Belchamp Walter

It is no longer a secret the Downton - A New Era has been filmed. The opening sequence was filmed 18 - 21 May 2021 in the grounds of Belchamp Hall and the Church of Belchamp Walter.

The author of this website was instrumental in getting this to happen. After being asked to not tell anyone what the filming actually was, it is now common knowledge. I have not been told that I cannot say what the increase in activity was all about and, I did not sign a non-disclosure.

The filming should be good for the village and give it some exposure. If this revelation jeopardises any future filming opportunities so be it. Quite frankly, I am disappointed that certain inviduals have already used it for their own self promotion.

The Location

The filming location was in the Church of St. Marys Belchamp Walter and in the grounds of Belchamp Hall.

The brief that the Location Scout and the Production Designer and Producer was a small country house with a church and/or chapel in or near the house. My drone photographs illustrated this perfectly. The approach for the possibilty of shooting the film at this location was made through the webmaster of this website (the same as the Village Hall website). It was the diligent follow-up by me that was possibly why the filming came about. It could have happened without my help, but we will never know. The initial communication with the hall was ignored as it was thought that this was just another film crew testing the waters with little intention of proceeding with the venture.

The involvement of the PCC (Parish Church Council) was zero initially and it was not divulged to them until the descision to proceed with the filming was made. The Church recieved payment for the use of the building, as was right, and it served as quite a "windfall" for Church Finances. Once the filming was made known to the PCC the Curch Warden "took charge" and to many it may have seemed that he was the one that organised the shoot.

The filming took place in the height of the Covid 19 crisis. The film crew setup what turned out to be a mini village in the grounds on the Hall. This included two giant marquees that housed the Covid testing facilities and the rest of the filming support areas. The build-up to filming started weeks before the actual filming and on the 3 days of the filming there was much traffic on our small country lanes. For this I apologise to the residents of the village who where not informed that the filming was taking place.

An experiment in Search Engine Optimisation

I am using this news item to experiment in getting pages indexed by search engines.

As I have not been recognised by Carnival Films for my part in this I feel that I am justified in using this for my own purposes. Should I recieve such a recognition I will consider removing this page and the contents if it is thought that this compromises the production.